Fighting Octarians for an Octoling?
by EthanR27
Summary: This story will be based on what actually happens during my progress in Splatoon 2, but with a twist: "Agent 4" will eventually have to fight Octarians after some time living at the Square, but he has fallen for a certain... Octoling? Experience the hardships and triumphs of fighting for the Squidbeak Splatoon as well as capturing Marina's heart by rescuing the Great Zapfish?


**_A/N: Hello guys, and yes I'm finally back with a new story for you all! Ever since Splatoon 2's announcement as well as Pearl and Marina's announcement as well, I've decided to recreate my adventures of Splatoon 2 so far into this story, cause why not? As you may figure out by now, yes I have gone crazy for Marina, but who wouldn't, honestly? Anyways, I hope you enjoy Part 1 of this Prologue covering the Splatfest World Premiere!_**

 ** _Note: If you played Splatoon or you didn't but know what the game is about, you can skip the portion in between the "FLASHBACK" markings. Just added it to recollect Agent 4's memories back in the Plaza._**

 _UPDATE: Thank you to Splattifying Agent 2 for helping me out suggesting small changes in regards to details that may have made things difficult to read the first time around. Go check out their content if you want to read more on Splatoon!_

* * *

"ARRIVING INKOPOLIS SQUARE IN FIVE MINUTES. BE PREPARED TO MAKE A SAFE AND QUICK EXIT. THANK YOU FOR RIDING OUR INKOPOLIS SUBWAY SYSTEM!"

-FLASHBACK-

Inkopolis Square: Home of the modern day fashion here at Inkopolis. Here is where Turf War gets its new home after Splatfest's two-year round concluded in the Plaza. In fact, many Inklings have moved to Inkopolis Square to make battling more easier as the commute can get a bit expensive. Some of the Plaza's favorites have also moved out to the Square to pursue their dreams. Sheldon, of course, moved over to the Square to provide a bigger market for Ammo Knights to sell more weapons that his shop is sponsoring. Crusty Sean has moved from the Plaza, actually quit his job and started his food truck business.

Now for the main focus of our story, we introduce you to "Agent 4", but the reason we call him "Agent 4" is that we want to classify his name until the end of his upcoming adventure in Octo Canyon, which he does not expect to happen in his entire life. Sure, he had heard stories back at the Plaza that his friend, which surprised him, Sally was in fact "Agent 3" of the Squidbeak Splatoon, as to which he always thanked and worshipped her on their success of recovering the Great Zapfish.

-FLASHBACK END-

"Oh, the memories… how I'll miss the Plaza and Sally..." Agent 4 said he began to doze off very slowly.

"LAST CALL! ARRIVING AT INKOPOLIS SQUARE VERY SOON!"

"Gah!" Agent 4 woke up, startled. "Stupid intercom… I lost sleep for squid's sake!" As to which Agent 4 stepped off the train very angry of losing another chance to rest.

As he kept walking through the subway station, he encountered a fork in the underground hallway with a sign hanging above: the right taking you directly to the Square, the middle taking you to the Practice Grounds, and the left for Turf War Registrations. Since Agent 4 was very tired and unaware of his surroundings, he took the center path on accident, but he encountered a bench at the end of the walkway that made him feel happy. He took a "quick" snooze that lasted almost two hours, but a staff member, who works in the Practice Grounds, woke him up.

"Hey, kid! Hello! Wake up!"

"...Yeah…?" Agent 4 asks sleepily, yawning with his response.

"Time for you to go! You're next!"

"Huh…? Where am I?"

At that moment without realizing, Agent 4 was being dragged through the gate and placed outside the facility but was given Turf War gear without any idea what to do. Like everyone in the Practice Grounds, Agent 4 was given a Splattershot Jr. with standard Ink Bombs.

"Okay… Hold up. Where exactly am I?" Agent 4 asked in a harsh tone, quite impatient as well.

"Run through the course kid. You're on the Practice Grounds. See you on the other end."

"WAIT! WAIT! WAI-"

But the instant that Agent 4 was trying to get the attention of the staff member, he was locked out. The bigger problem is that the door he went through was a "One Way" door; which has no handle on the outside. Frustrated, Agent 4 was tasked to do what he knew what to do: run the course. What was even more annoying is that the Practice Grounds were set to teach him how to do basic techniques; inking ground, shooting objects, and swimming around much to his dismay. It took almost half an hour since the Grounds were designed to give a thorough tutorial and many obstacles that are almost out of reach for him; Super Jump is also disabled on his weapon set since there is no Spawn Point in sight.

After what it seems like an eternity, Agent 4 managed to finish approximately 10 minutes later, encountering a jump pad that leads to the Square directly. Frustrated, he took off by turning into a squid and aligned himself to the center of the "pool" for take-off. Eventually, out of nowhere too, he was launched off the very instant he dove in. A high power launch across many miles of the city eventually lead him to the painted Spawn point of what is known as Inkopolis Square. What angered him, though, is that the exit from the subway was just dead ahead on the right side of Deca Tower.

* * *

Inkopolis Square: the birthplace of the new generation of fresh. New hairstyles, new clothing lines, and even new weapons! Including some remixed weapons from the Plaza, the shopkeeper Sheldon always works hard to improve its quality to improve retail sales down at the Square, in comparison to the Plaza which in reality, fewer people have been making purchases. There is a Shakespearean jellyfish named Jelfonzo, charming many female Inklings with his smooth talk and sweet gear as well. Bisk from Shella Fresh sells some of the sweet kicks of Inkopolis, which many people rely on him for some of the strongest abilities they have to offer. Now, some of the guys go crazy to one particular shopkeeper who is a hipster to a few. Both Flow and Craymond from Headspace some of the strongest and stylish set of headgear, as to which Flow's sweet charm always brings back the male customers every day, somehow.

The main thing that sets the difference between the Plaza and the Square is the new hosts they offer. Coincidentally, a chime came in from the displays in Deca Tower, attracting everyone's attention to the news updates for current battle rotations.

"Whew… just in time for the news and map rotation broadcast. Wonder what's in store today." Agent 4 stated to himself.

A few seconds in, and they opened up the news segment with the performing duo's group name.

"Off… the Hook? Seems like an interesting name for them…"

Another few sets of seconds later, and the two are recording live on the screen, but Agent 4 was too focused on the food truck behind him, which surprised him to see Crusty Sean there?! Amidst the current broadcast, Agent 4 went to see Crusty Sean and decided to ask a few questions.

"Y'all know what time it is!" one female Inkling said enthusiastically. "It's Off the Hook, coming at you LIVE from Inkopolis Square!" the other "Inkling" followed up. Agent 4 was already long gone from the screen before they started speaking, unaware as to how the new pop duo looked like, at least even learning their names. Slowly, he then followed suit on his path to say hello to everyone's favorite prawn.

* * *

"Hey, Crusty Sean! How are you?" Agent 4 asked in glee, jogging up to the prawn in charge behind the fryer.

"Hey, squiddo! Business is going great here! Are you interested in one of my food options?"

"Maybe next time, right now I got no money in my budget for me to spend on a meal…"

"Oh, no, that's not how it works here, squiddo!"

"It doesn't? Then how do you earn revenue or how do people pay for your food?"

"Here in the Square, Inklings uses food tickets, which you can redeem if you work over at Grizzco, as of now. I don't know where else you can earn extra ones. But at the end of the week, I go take the tickets back to Inkopolis Hall and get exchanged for large sums of revenue..." Crusty Sean explained.

"That's cool! And what is Grizzco?" Agent 4 questioned.

"Grizzco is the hot spot for Inklings to work part time, for points tho…"

"Well, that is such a scam…"

"However! Depending on your performance throughout the day, you can earn super bonuses, which grants gold, shirts, ability chunks, and even food tickets!"

"Ability chunks?"

"They are traces taken off from any gear as to which you can customize your gear any way you want, but you must talk to Murch over there once you reach Level 4."

"Oh, that's easy. Anyway, it's good to see you here Crusty Sean!"

"Peace, squiddo!"

Agent 4 eventually turned the other way once the broadcast finalized at Deca Tower.

"Don't get cooked, stay off the hook!" Pearl and Marina chanted.

Before the broadcast ceased a few seconds later, Agent 4 halted harshly at the sight of the second person on the main screen.

"Well, hello!" Agent 4 shouted to himself, as to which he attracted every Inkling's attention throughout the Square. Seeing this made Agent 4 uneasy, which he eventually got very embarrassed and ran to the nearest shop: Headspace.

* * *

"Whoa, friend. I can tell from your aura that you are excited to have my wares even before stepping in this shop!"

"Sorry about that… what's you name?" Agent 4 asked, very clueless.

"My name is Flow, and this is my buddy, Craymond."

"I regret everything!" Craymond shouted randomly.

"Uhh… okay? Sorry about stepping inside your shop like that, Flow…"

"No worries my fish friend. From your aura, I can tell why you stepped in my shop in the first place: you got yourself in a mess because of love."

"Man, how you're good at reading vibes… That's what exactly happened. But I don't want to step out because I feel like I'll make a fool of myself if I see her again on TV!"

"I'm assuming you're talking about Marina, right?" Flow asked cautiously.

"Who's Marina?"

"One of the hosts wearing mostly green…"

"Then yeah, her." Agent 4 blankly stated until a small detail hits him. "WAIT! SHE'S AN OCTOLING?!"

"Whoa, whoa… Keep it down, my friend. Yes, she is, but we all here at the Square accept anyone regardless of the race may be considered dangerous."

"Wow… How surprising. Everyone back in the Plaza gets paranoid at the sight of an Octoling, but holy carp she's different!"

"Oh, how my little fish friend is hitting the fact hard. I find this adorable!"

With that comment from the sea slug, Agent 4 gave off a red tint on his face.

"Who's the other person?"

"Her name's Pearl. Kind but she can be a bit sassy at times. All in her natural aura she gives off."

"Interesting. Lovely names too."

"Anyways, I hate to do this, but you'll have to step out of the shop for now, or you'll ruin my reputation. Come back so that we can talk again once you reach Level 4."

"I reached Level 50 back at the Plaza though!"

"Yes, but you need to start from the bottom here in the Square. But I'll wait here for our next chat, alright?"

"Okay, I hope to see you later!" Agent 4 waved goodbye.

"By the way, you can't level up during Splatfest!" Flow shouted with the softest voice ever heard.

"Oh, how could I for- there's a Splatfest?! Anyways, then I'll see you tomorrow!"

"No can do, either. Ranking systems are down until next week, meaning battles don't count at all!"

"Are you squidding me?! Fine, hope to see you next week…"

"Goodbye, my fish friend!" Flow waved goodbye.

"I regret everything!" Craymond shouted once more in the background.

* * *

Once he stepped out of the shop, he noticed that no one wasn't looking at his direction anymore, but what changed is that there is a digital display near the center of the Square? Agent 4 eventually walked up to the station, discovering that it's a new voting monitor for the next Splatfest. Now came the hardest choice of his life for the current theme: "Cake or Ice Cream… Man, why this theme?"

After asking himself such question, he looked around and found the studio as to where the duo is currently hanging out. He then walked up to the glass window and stared continuously, hoping that he'll get a response back like the Squid Sisters back at the Square. After waiting 30 seconds, Marina was the first to look up to him and waved at him. Pearl, on the other hand, gave a death stare before giving her usual "signature move," which eventually freaked out Agent 4 at the moment, noticing Pearl herself can plan revenge for some particular reason. Finally, he walked back to the voting booth despite having some goosebumps.

As Agent 4 made his way back, the peculiar set of eyes doesn't seem to look away so effectively. Pearl was still blabbering on about their current topic, as to which we don't know about, unaware that Marina was still focused on that one Inkling. Realizing that her friend is out of focus for a while now, she decided to have a little fun with it too; Pearl got up from her seat and decided to slowly sneak up to her partner in crime. Marina, on the other hand, was still gazing past everyone outside and kept staring at the mysterious new Inkling boy from the Plaza poking around at the Splatfest voting terminal. Very carefully, Pearl stretched out her arms and attacked Marina ferociously, startling the poor Octoling off of her seat.

"WAKE UP, MARINA! COME BACK TO EARTH!" Pearl shouted, grinning in a sinister way as she continued to startle Marina for a few more seconds.

"Gah!" Marina shrieked in response. "Pearl! Don't ever do that!" In response to that, Marina hid her face in fear and slight embarrassment as well.

"Relax, you're still here. Like the Octarians are trying to come back to take you..." Pearl sneered at the innocent girl as she looked back to her seat to sit down once again.

"Please don't joke around like that... I hated living back at the Canyon..." Marina answered, still hiding her timid nature from Pearl.

"What were you staring at this whole time, anyway?"

Pointing her finger at Agent 4 while still being in a trance, Marina said, "That Inkling boy over by the terminal. He's very adorable... I wonder where he came from…?" Marina said in awe.

"How should I know? Wait... Are you thinking of going after HIM?!" Pearl asked, surprised and a little disgusted.

"I don't know, but we'll find out soon…" Marina stated back while keeping her eyes on Agent 4.

* * *

Back at the voting station; Agent 4 was definite at his final choice for Splatfest. As soon as he chose his side after a few minutes, the machine gave him an Ice Cream patterned Splatfest Tee. Agent 4 was ready to defend Team Ice Cream... and maybe something else as well to go along with that.

* * *

 ** _A/N: Thank you so much for reading Part 1 of the Prologue! Part 2 will be up once I get started on it. Since I already completed Hero Mode in Splatoon 2, there should be little to no hassle in creating the remaining 11 main chapters before "freelance" content, including Splatfest. Hope that you enjoyed, please leave a review for any suggestions, and I hope to see you in the next update!_**

 ** _Also, fill out this one question Google Form and decide on a name for Agent 4! The survey will close once Chapter 2 (excluding the Prologue) is up and running!_**

 ** _tinyurl dot com / name-agent-4_**


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